Priyanka Vadra nee Gandhi‘s visit to the Vellore jail in March to meet her father’s assassin Nalini Sriharan to come “to peace with the violence and loss that I have experienced” has generated acres of positive coverage. The media has highlighted the largeheartedness of the Gandhi family and their forgiving nature, but Sudheendra Kulkarni, the former media advisor to Vajpayee and Advani, isn’t impressed.
He writes in yesterday’s Indian Express:
“Has Priyanka, her brother or mother ever publicly commiserated with the bereaved members of the families of 1,255 Indian soldiers who lost their lives in the IPKF operations in Sri Lanka and thus helped them “come to peace with violence and loss” that they too experienced as the result of a foolish and counter-productive decision taken by Rajiv Gandhi?
“Have they done the same with the bereaved kith and kin of those who lost their lives in the 1984 anti-Sikh carnage? Or, is it their belief that they alone have suffered “violence and loss” in this country? Or that their family is entitled to special privileges, both in life and in death?”
Read the full column: Why Priyanka’s visit is not personal
churumuri 
The suffering, self-sacrificing, First Family is also one of the richest in the country.
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If she thought Nalini would breakdown and confess everything, she was wrong. If she thought, Nalini’s tears would help her forget hers (or more importantly Sonia’s silent internal suffering) she was wrong. If she had gone in a fit of emotional rage to blame and take the only living “guilty” by the collar, she may have brought more sorrow to herself and other near and dear ones.
If there were other personal reasons, it may have been better for Priyanka to fight her personal ghosts herself or with help of close family members and friends.
It did not serve any conceivable purpose. So it is being debated, and hence it no longer remains personal.
Still, I cannot allow myself to be so dispassionate or cruel, so let me add: if the meeting is to be written about in some future book, then maybe we will all know WHY. But, I am forced to further add, I only hope it is not to lend a chapter to some Gandhi family book, it sounds too “deliberate” and “unemotional.” But somehow I don’t feel comfortable speculating over all this.
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ITS ONLY TO SHOW GANDHI , VADRA & FAMILY ARE DIFFERENT FROM REST OF CROWD. CROCODILE TEARS TO GAIN PUBLIC SYMAPATHY. PERIOD. SHAME SHAME
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